The Nationals will give first baseman Adam LaRoche some time off after an MRI revealed a strain in his right quad muscle.

According to the Nats, LaRoche will be placed on the 15-day disabled list Sunday. It is likely Tyler Moore will return as the corresponding move. Moore was sent to Triple-A Syracuse on May 7 to make room for Wilson Ramos.

LaRoche has been dealing with tightness in his quad for several weeks now, but had remained in the lineup. Through the season’s first six weeks he has been the Nationals’ best offensive player, hitting .319 with five home runs and 21 RBI. LaRoche’s .925 OPS is best on the team.

Losing the veteran could be a big blow to the Nationals, no matter how long he is out. They are already missing Bryce Harper and Ryan Zimmerman, and Ramos just returned from the disabled list.

LaRoche was out of the Nats’ lineup on Saturday, as Matt Williams started Kevin Frandsen at first base against lefty Sonny Gray. LaRoche had previously played in seven consecutive games and recorded seven hits during that stretch.

Through 36 games this season the Nationals have already seen four members of their Opening Day lineup land on the disabled list.

From Chase’s post:
“Through the season’s first six weeks he has been the Nationals’ best offensive player, hitting .319 with five home runs and 21 RBI. LaRoche’s .925 OPS is best on the team.”

Who saw that coming?

BurnedOnce - May 11, 2014 at 9:49 AM

And judging from Werth’s slow running and missed balls in RF, his groin isn’t 100%. So 6 of the starting 8 have/had injuries with DL time. The remainder are swing for the fences in order to hit a grand slam everytime up. (Except Rendon).

Time to focus on what strengths they have and play to that, albeit AAAA level ball.

Doc - May 11, 2014 at 10:53 AM

Well some good news from last night’s upset, Walters looks like a more than suitable replacement out in LF. Good movement, SS’s glove, and good arm. Unlike Hairston, Zack looks like an athlete.

He just has to remember that if Span wants the ball, like all CFs, he gets the ball.

Hope we see him out there a lot more. TyMo can take over 1B.

Eric - May 11, 2014 at 10:54 AM

Ooof.

markinarlington - May 11, 2014 at 11:14 AM

Wondering what the rules are for TyMo’s recall from the Minors .. do the Nats have to wait 10 days as they did for Aaron Barrett?

Eugene in Oregon - May 11, 2014 at 11:21 AM

Not as I understand them (because he’ll be taking the place/position of injured player).

I punched out after 6 – been fighting some kind of not-the-flu-virus and things looked pretty good, so I decided to get some sleep.

First words out of my mouth this morning, on looking at MLB At Bat, were NSFW.

And now LaRoche goes down. Cripes, at this rate, when can we expect to read that the team plane has crashed in the Arizona desert?

The good news: Tanner is a genuine pitcher. Two of his last three starts have been gems. When Fister finds his command again, we’ll have an unbeatable starting 5.

Of course, that’s when the entire lineup will be hit with anthrax poisoning…

Someone needs to sacrifice a chicken to the Gods of Baseball to remove the Curse of Nick Johnson from this team.

Eugene in Oregon - May 11, 2014 at 11:29 AM

A few thoughts from last night’s game:

— First, it was a pleasure to meet veejh and sit with him and his friend; nice to find Nats fans all over the place (also ran into Kevin and Mrs. Kevin while walking around Berkeley; more nice folks).

— Second, Tanner Roark (as Candide notes above) appears to be the real deal; last year’s success wasn’t a fluke. The A’s have a solid line-up and he held them in check beautifully, mixing his pitches and keeping them off-balance. Well done.

— Third, although the three-run third was a pleasure to watch, the Nats hitters seemed helpless the rest of the game, particularly against the A’s bullpen — that was painful to watch, especially when you knew an extra run or two could be decisive.

— Finally, at the time and without benefit of replay, I thought Rafael Soriano’s decision to cut-off the throw from LF was the right move, holding the hitter (now runner) at first, particularly given zero outs. Watching the replay this morning I’m not so sure.

I’m surprised you think after looking at replay that the runner might have been out at home. The throw was high, well over Rendon’s head, and it was about to bounce a good 20 feet from home when Soriano caught it at his shoe tops. That means it was coming down with not a lot of mustard left on it. The runner was essentially even with it and running at full speed. I just don’t see how throw could have beaten him after it bounced. But, as everyone says, we’ll never know, and he probably should have let it go through. He was probably thinking of trying to prevent the batter from getting to second as you say. Also, it’s hard to tell, but the throw, which was a great throw under the circumstances, might have pulled Ramos into the basepath leading to a heckuva a decision. Again, the angle is tough to judge on the replay, but the location of the runner and the near bounce of the throw is not.

Yeah, you’re probably right..I wasn’t thinking it would have been on time last night.

secretwasianman - May 11, 2014 at 11:37 AM

I can stomach the team struggling with all the injuries and young guys playing. But it’s time for the big hired guns on this team to step up. Mclouth, Soriano and Desi especially. Can’t afford to lose like last night. Desmond is just a nightmare at the plate. What is wrong with him?

knoxvillenat - May 11, 2014 at 12:17 PM

“….time for the big hired guns…… to step up.”

Well on 2 of the 3 you name I would agree but you are being totally unfair to Soriano who up to last night has been nothing short of excellent all season. Or are you one of those “what have you done for me lately types”?

In my gamer, I pointed out that before last night, Soriano and Storen had combined to give up ONE run this season in 23 innings. Yes, you can criticize them, but they’ve won a bunch of games for us.

The problem is the offense. NO ADD ON RUNS!! Only scored in one inning of the 19 on the West Coast so far, and that was Danny, Zach Walters, Span and Frandsen. So maybe cut the bench and Span a break, at least for a day.. The “regulars” (Rendon, Ramos, Werth, Desmond) didn’t contribute much, a hit, a walk, a HBP…

Meanwhile, you have to feel Atlanta is skating on even thinner ice. They have lost 8 of 11 and have scored the fewest runs in MLB (110). The Giants swept them, and the Giants only had one hit with RISP in the entire series. Kimbrel’s blown two saves already, and they are talking about benching Uggla and his $13 million salary. They’ve won a couple of games–against the Cubs. The Cubs are really bad, bad, bad. They are 1-7 (yes 1-7) when their Ace (Samardzija) starts.

Hopefully LaRoche will be back in two weeks and Tyler will contribute… Let’s grab this one and then step all over the Snakes.

The start before that was a gem too. That was the start on April 21 when he went 7 scoreless and Clipp blew the game.

sjberke - May 11, 2014 at 12:36 PM

And Fister’s debacle Friday night was also in part attributable to delaying his first start in order to keep Strasburg on normal rest.

Section 222 - May 11, 2014 at 1:31 PM

I’m not buying this excuse. Did you miss the fact that his last start before last night was on May 3? That means he had six days rest, the same number that he had before his lousy game in Philly. And don’t forget that last year, he wowed everyone with his six inning, 4 hit first start on September 7, seven days (6 days rest) after the last time he pitched. He also gave up only 3 hits in 7 innings on September 29, after 5 days rest.

Teams get off days and so, like every other pitcher, he’s going to get an extra day of rest from time to time And unless he usurps Stras, Gio, or JZnn as one of our top 3 pitchers, from time to time he’s going to get an extra two or three days rest. He needs to deal with that, as he clearly was able to last night.

Steady Eddie - May 11, 2014 at 1:55 PM

Sorry for that inadvertent “report”. In fact, I completely agree with your comment. With all the flow of a team’s schedule across the season, it’s part of the starters job as a professional to be able to adjust their preparation for a varying number of rest days.

One thing I’ve learned in my other job is how many injuries there are and how difficult it is to assess their severity, especially at first. Everyone said yada yada yada about Matt Wieters… he kept playing (though at DH) because he could hit. Now he’ll “rest” until July and perhaps have surgery.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve reported a manager saying, “It’s nothing” or “It’s only bruised” or “He’s day-to-day” and two days later it’s 15 days on the DL. Maybe there’s a team with perfect doctors and trainers. I haven’t seen it yet, but I’ve only been on the job two months.

The other thing I’ve learned is that it’s not automatic that guys come back on schedule. We reported that Carlos Quentin and Chase Headley were both coming back “over the weekend.” Guess what? Headley’s back (activated yesterday) but Quentin’s still on his rehab assignment and might be back “this week.” And that’s position players. Pitchers and their rehab games–it’s like a lottery.